Chbibtian bttopf and joseph nitschman



C. RUOFF AND I. NITSCHMAN.

METALLIC YARN.

APPLICATION FILED NOV. I0, 1917.

Patented May 3, 1921.

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Bpecileatlon of Letters Patent. Patented 3 1921,

Application led November 10, 1917. Serial-llo. 201,281..

To all whom 'it may concern.'

Be it known that we, CHRISTIAN RuorrI and JOSEPH NrrsoHMAN, both citizens of the United States of America, and both residlng in the city of Newark, in the county of Essex and State of New J ersev, have invented' a certain new and useful Metallic Yarn, of which the following is a specification.

The object of our inventlon is first, to produce filamentary strips of metal of very small cross section and of such length as to be suitable for spinning intometallic yarn; and second to produce a metallic yarn of any desired length and number of strands or gage and having the mazrimum strength; and suitable for weaving into a metallic fabric adapted for use as woven, or for imparting strength to other materials or compounds by being combined with or embedded therein to form blocks, sheets, rods, or other forms.

We are aware that what is commonly known as metallic or steel wool is produced from metal blocks, plates, rods or wire by various machiningl operations, but so far as we are aware suc product is not commercially suitable for spinning into metallic `yarn owing to the characteristics ofthe filaments produced. That is to say, the filaments areeither so curly or crinkled as to make them unsuitable for carding and spinning into metallic yarn, or the fiber or continuity of grain of the metal filaments 1s so broken by the cutting, turning, shaving o1 shredding process, that the filaments, if suitable for carding and spinning, lack sufficient or uniform tensile strength to produce a strong yarn suitable for weaving into a metallic mesh or fabric of uniform strength, texture and quality. Furthermore, the method of producing these filaments, as heretofore proposed, involves the use of special tools requiring frequent reshar'pening and consequent resettin resulting in loss of time and lack of uni ormity of cut, both as to size andquality; and furthermore, the methods heretofore employed produce a limited quantity of filaments or footage in a given time, unless the machining is done at a relatively high rate of speed, and thus augmenting the objections above referred to. These disadvantages and objections resultin relatively high cost and low grade production. l

Our invention is designed to avoid these objections and to provide a simple and economical method) of producing metallicl filaments of substantially uniform length and cross section, and at a uniform rate and grade of production.'

We have found that filaments cut, turned, shaved or shredded from blocks, plates, rods or wire by any form of cutting tool present rough or serrated edges which, while desirable f'or spinning the filaments into metallic yarn 1n that they cling together more readily than smooth fine drawn wires, the yarn made from such filaments does not possess the maximum tensile strength owing to the fact that the fiber or grain continuity ,of the filament is broken by the cutting, turning, shaving or shredding operation.

The disadvantages referred to we have found can be overcome, and our objects accomplished, by producing the filaments from thin sheet metal by a shearing or clipping actlon, resulting 1n substantially straight filaments, or filaments having a slight long twist, as distinguished from curled or crlnkled filaments produced by cutting, turning, shaving or shredding from blocks, rods, etc., as commonly performed by various forms of cutters employed on'machine tools such as lathes or planers and variations of those types of machines.

In carrying our invention intov'effect we use thin sheet metal of the desired thickness, about .002 of an inch, and arrange a i pile of about fifty to one hundred or more sheets on a suitable bed on which the stack is fed to a pair of shearing blades. The stack'will be fed forward intermittently a space vof one or two thousandths .of an inch and the shearing blades will shear off the end of the'stack to a width equal to each forwardfeed, producing fifty to one hun. dred or more filaments with each stroke of the machine. Thus it will be seenthat the filaments so produced will all be of uniform length, width and thickness; and the absence of curl or crinkle making carding unnecessary and permitting quick and easy handling when Spinnin into metallic yarn.

Our invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawing in which, y:Figure 1 is a perspective view on an enlarged scale representin a, filament/of metal'sheared from a sheet; ig. 2 illustrates two or more of such filaments twisted or spun into metallic yarn;

to the width of sheet from whlch it issheared. In shearing these filaments, the shearing blades may be varranged with o r without rake to produce filaments practicall straight or w1th more or less twist according to the de ree of rake given to the shearing blade. t is well known that 1n shearing or punching sheet metal, the edges y are. more or less broken from the shearing stress, and this would be objectionable for our pur ose, but with extremel thin sheet metal of) about .002 of an inch 1n thickness this objection is not present or so far reduced as tol be negligible. The filaments thus formed may be readily spun into yarn 2, and woven into fabric 3 of any desired weight and mesh, and for a varlety of purposes. It will be noted that filaments made by shearing from sheet metal .will be rectangular in cross section and present sharp edges, and that in theoperation of spinning Y contact and further increase the tensile strength. Also the filaments may be aninto yarn the filaments are twisted together causing the sharp edges' to engage or bite into each other, thus adding materially to the tensile strength of the yarn. After the spinning operation, the yarn may be subjected to pressure between rolls or otherwise treated to bring the filaments into closer nealed before spinning into yarn, and the arn orv woven fabric may be subjected to hardening and tempering processes 4as desired. If desired themetalhc filaments may be embedded for strengthening purposes in other materials or compounds such as rubber, or other plastic materials, to form sheets, blocks, rods or other forms 4:, or filaments spun intof yarn may be so employed,

or the woven fabric may be embedded in or coated with other materials.

In Figs. 5 and 6 are illustrated the essential parts of our improved shearing machine for forming the metallic filaments from thin sheets. In this machine, 5 is the bed having guide flanges 6 and whichmay be fixed or adjustable. The bed has a Wide longitudinal slotted depression at the bottom of which are two raised ways 7 and 8, the latter preferably being hi her than thevother and beveled to form a -rail. In the recess'v and adapted to slide on the ways is a short slide 9 having a V-'groove to fit rail ,8, and a lug 10 projecting through the slot to engage a feed screw 11 which is j ournaled in the end walls of the bed. This screw may be Iturned intermittently by hand by applying a crank to thesquared end 12, or through `materY gears. 13 driven by suitable connections from the ram 14, or otherwise. Thin metal sheets l5 are placed on table' in a stack of the desired thickness, and clamped to the slide by a plate 16. Projecting from slide 9 are two lugs 17- in which clamping levers 18 are hinged and which levers are provided with clamping screws 19. These screws are forced against the slide to cause levers 18 to press plate 16 upon sheets 15 and bind them in position. The forward feed of the slide and the downward movement of ram 14 are so timed that, as the sheets are fed forward, the ram will descend and first cause the spring seated plate 20 to clamp the forward ends of sheets 15. The continued downward movement of the ram then compresses springs 21, and bolts 22 which carry plate 20 .will slide upward through holes in head 23. Durin this movement blade .24 carried b head 3 and stationar blade 25 shear o the ends of sheets llwhich project beyond plate 20, as will be readily understood. The cutting and clearanceangles and rake of the shearing blades will be such as are best adapted forA the working conditions.

v What we claim is:

1. A metallic arn S un from metallic filaments sheared fioin's eet metal.

2. A metallic yarnl spun from metallic filaments sheared from sheet'metal and having a slight twist. f Y

3. A metallic yarn spun from metallic filaments and comprisino` a plurality of meta-lsheared from sheet metal. j

4. A metallic yarn spun from metallic 'filaments and comprising a pluralityl of metallic filaments rectangular in cross section, sheared from sheet metal, and some or all of such filaments having a long twist.

5. metallic yarn spun from metallic filaments and comprising a plurality of metallic filaments having flat'sides and sheared from sheet metal.

6. A metallic yarn spun from metallic filaments and comprising a plurality of metallic filaments having fiat sides and sharp ed es and sheared from sheet metal.

A metallic yarn spun from metallic filamentsand comprising a plurality of metallic filaments rectangular in cross section and having sharp edges and a slight twist produced by shearing from sheet metal.

This specification signed and witnessed this 5th day of November, 1917.

CHRISTIAN RUOFF. JOSEPH NITSCHMAN.

Witnesses:

AUGUSTUS R. MULLER,

Louis L MLLER.

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